Harvester finger-bar



(No Model.)

W. L. WALKER. HARVESTER FINGER BAR.

Patented June so, 1885.

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NITED STATES PATENT Fries.

WILLIAM L. WALKER, OF OAPAY, CALIFORNIA.

HARVESTER FINGER-BAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,988, dated June 30, 1885.

Application filed May 6, 1884.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. WALKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oapay, in the county of Yolo and State of California, have invented a new and useful Harvester Finger-Bar, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention has relation to header-bars for harvesters; and .it consists in the construction and novel arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Figurel is a view in perspective of a headerbar embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a front elevation. Fig. 3 is a plan view, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section.

In operating headers, when the front is de-' pressed to cut low grain,the upper surface of the bar hasa downward inclination, and there being no obstruction, the grain which fails to be caught by the traveling draper is liable to slip forward again onto the ground unless prevented, and a considerable portion of the grain is thus lost. One of the objects of my invention is to prevent this loss.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, a designates a wooden beam or bar extending horizontally across the headerframe.

b designates the fingers or guards which are inserted into the bar in a manner that will enable them to be replaced if broken. Steel plates 0 are secured to the front face of the bar a at short intervals, their upper edges coming just above the horizontal top face of the bar, to form the front rests for the sickle. Steel pins (1 d are also driven vertically into the top face of the bar at properintervals and project slightly above the wooden surface, to form the rear rests for the sickle. In order to prevent the sickle from getting out of place, angled guides or clips 6 are provided at suitable intervals. The half -oval drop or descent f immediately in rear of the sickle is only fiveeighths of an inch wide, and the distance from the sickle to the draperis only No model.)

one and three-fourths inch, (just one-half the distance of the old style,) thus avoiding the loading or accumulating of grain-heads on the bar, and preventing the tendency to fall forward and lose by jolting when the machine passes over rough or uneven ground. The halfoval descent or drop f back of the sickle directly to the draper affords a natural and safe escape of the grain to the draper.

The advantage of the wooden beam over an iron one is that it insures that proper elasticity which escapes warping or bending by concussion. The guards in this construction are inserted at right angles to the face of the bar in. a perfect and secure manner, and in the event of damage are easy to replace.

In point of lightness and durability and in the matter of economy in saving both short heads andshattered grain it is superior to any bar with which I am acquainted.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A wooden header-bar provided with steel plates at short intervals on its front face, projecting just above the horizontal top face of the bar, forming the front rests for the sickle, and the steel pins driveninto the top face and forming the rear rests for the sickle, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the header-bar having the half-oval drop or descentf in rear of the sickle, of the plates 0 and the pins (2, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A wooden header bar provided with steel plates on its front face to project above the top face of the bar, for the purpose set forth.

4. A header-bar having metallic pins projecting upwardly, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I. claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM L. WALKER.

Witnesses:

ALBERT J. PIERCE, It. GHEEVER. 

